The Rutgers Group: Garden State Avant-Garde - various artists, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey

Art in America, Dec, 1999 by Richard Kalina

Some of Brecht's most innovative works are his "Events," the enigmatic scores of which he called "Event Cards." The information presented in these cards is stripped down and minimal but may be acted upon in a surprisingly large number of ways. Consider the score of Three Aqueous Events (1961). A 4-by-3-inch card is inscribed with the heading "THREE AQUEOUS EVENTS," under which are printed three words--"ice, "water," "steam"--set in a column, each with a printer's bullet beside it. Simple enough, but how exactly does one perform or present these instructions? With thought and some imagination, the possibilities proliferate, as they do in the even sparer Event Card (Exit) of 1961, a similar piece with the one-word instruction announced in the title.

Works like these blur the distinction between object and action, artist and viewer--a goal, in one way or another, of all of the artists of the group. The desire to shake art out of its complacency and artiness, to take it into the arena of the real world (and in doing so, possibly bring it down a peg) motivated many young artists of that time. The artists in this show, while important, were part of a larger restiveness then manifesting itself in the art world. Clearly, the main action was in Manhattan, and the New Brunswick group went to shows, lectures, performances and parties in the city. They took classes--often at Columbia or the New School--and exhibited their work in New York venues whenever they could. But while they made ample use of New York's resources, New Brunswick was the haven to which they returned. It was far enough away to provide them with a sense of seclusion, and there they could work out ideas in a congenial and less pressured atmosphere. Of course, the same could be said for many outlying areas. That such a radical, limit-testing art could be found in New Brunswick (or in Bennington, Vt., where Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Anthony Caro et al. held sway beginning at about the same time) is a testament to the art-historical moment, the talent of the artists involved and, not least, to fortuity.

"Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963" appeared at the Newark Museum [Feb. 18-June 16] and did not travel. It was accompanied by a 194-page catalogue.

Richard Kalina is a New York-based artist who also writes about art.